an artistic haven of handmade artists on etsy, one of a kind ooak home made jewelry and home decor, cards and crafts, fine art paintings, and photo decor art including sahm posts from the author, weekly artisan features and giveaways !

Friday, August 7, 2009

During my hunt for firsties of this weeks Monday Magic and for today's interview feature, I was fortunate to have quite a heavy response in a very short amount of time which made me realise just how great an opportunity it is for artisans to get themselves known, and I am really glad to be of help to Etsy artists with under 20 sales like myself, to get their name out on the big wide web! More and more people are expressing their creative genius online and it's so easy to get lost in the crowd. I want the newbies and struggling Artists of Etsy to SHINE! And this is why and how I began this journey. From Monday Magic I want to congratulate seller blackrockdesign for selling their fab necklace that I featured! Just goes to show how important it is to shout high and LOUD above the crowd! :D To find all the other fab sellers and their work from this first feature just visit Monday Magic - Breathe.

NOW! For Friday, I was considering on adding this seller to Monday Magic until I just kept going and going and going through the inventory on their shop and finding myself DAZZLED by their unique and wonderful ideas! I love color, and I'm an abstract artist so of course I couldn't resist MFM Apparel! I asked them if they would like an interview and they so kindly accepted, despite my poo attempts to retrieve their form a few days back after having a delete frenzy in my inbox!I blame Twitter... So anyway, I'll sign off and leave you with my fab first interviewees :D

(Just click the images to go direct to the listings)

-- Tell me a bit about you! (Name, Age, Location, and give us a random fact whilst you're at it.)Minty Fresh Monster Apparel is run by two Minneapolis Natives, Saman and Erica. Right now we're transplanted to Washington DC, will be moving home at the end of the summer!

-- What is your business about then? For us tees are the perfect blend between art and practical goods. We make original, creative art and put it on shirts, which is something most people need and can afford.

-- How did Etsy come into your life? We have been running MFM for a few years but were mostly just selling locally. This summer we decided it was time to really get things going and Etsy seemed like a logical choice. Were only a month in but so far its great!

-- Are you working a day job too? Haha "a day job". Well, no. Instead, we have a long list of part time jobs, internships, freelance work and schooling which keep us plenty busy.

-- How long has the artist in you been 'unleashed' for? Saman has been making art pretty much his whole life. Erica started a bit later but has been creating since high school.

-- What has been the inspiration behind your business? We love to create things but we also like the idea of selling things an average person can afford and really use. Unlike a huge oil painting t-shirts make it possible to have something that is art but is also small, usable and affordable.

-- If you could describe your products in three words, what would you tell me? t-shirts, colorful, awesome

-- What would an average working day for you be like from dawn til dusk? In September our whole schedule will change. Erica will be back in college and Saman will be working as an art apprentice and doing part time work graphic design work.But, for the time being this is a day in the life...7:50 Alarm goes off8:10 Wake up8:40 Saman bikes to work (graphic design internship)While Saman is at work Erica's day with MFM goes something like this8:40 check email, relist items that sold during the night and maybe pop into the forums10:30 Work on the shirts. At the moment that means hand stamping tags into a new batch of shirts.12:30 Eat lunch and surf the internet1:30 Bike to the post office2:30 Paint or draw for awhile6:00 Respond to emails, cut thank you cards and any other random tasks that need to be done7:00 Saman gets home from work and we have dinner8:30 Meet about MFM. We talk about how things are going, set goals, place orders or anything else that needs to be done9:00 Random work time. We do whatever needs to be done from designing shirts to freelance projects and filling wholesale orders.11:00 Hand draw thank you notes for all the orders being shipped the next day and Saman packs his lunch11:45 Maybe watch the Daily Show if we have time12:30 Bedtime

-- What's your favorite material and techniques to work with? For the shirts we love American Apparel shirts and designing in Photoshop and Inkscape. For our personal work Saman does a lot of grafic art on the computer a long with a fair amount of drawing and acrylic painting. Erica does ceramics and a lot of painting with watercolor and gwashe.

-- What is your ideal vision for the future for you and your work? We don't really have any ideal beyond continuing to explore new mediums, make new work and enjoy what were doing.

-- Away from work, what do you like to do for fun or to wind down? We are living in DC this summer so we have been trying to go to a museum every weekend, which has been pretty cool. The Smithsonian museums are great, and free!

-- What are you likely to search for on Etsy? Umm... we search for a lot of random things just to see what comes up. We have found some great stuff like a bike rim clock,and a pillow that looks exactly like a condom, it even has a giant cotton condom inside. As far as more practical things, etsy is a great place to find gifts, soap, clothes and just about anything else you need.